Rotary pump for corrosive liquid



A. O. RUSSELL ROTARY PUMP FOR CORROSIVE LIQUID Filed 0G11. 51, 1934 Aug. 31, 1937.

fil-@ 6. n m 1 ATTORN EYS Patented Aug. 31, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT oFElcE 2,091,4924 Romair PUMP Fon c'onaosrvn LIQUID Arthur o. aussen, white' ruins, N. Y. Application october 31, 1934, serai No. '150,151 s claims. (01.103-103) The object of my invention has been to provide a rotary pump for corrosive liquids which can be made of glass or other 4non-corrosive ma terial, and yet shall be so designed as not to i permit the glass parts to touch each other when the pump is operating; and to such ends my invention consists in the rotary pump hereinaiter specied.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross section of a pump embodying my invention; and

Fig. 2 is a perspective viewf'of the glass rotor.

The typical example of a pump embodying my invention, which is shown in theaccompanying drawing, comprises a rotor I0 which is integral with or mounted upon a shaft Il that is housed in a sleeve I2 of metal which is supported in a bearing block I3, said rotor and shaft being formed-of glass, quartz or .other noncorrosive 0 material. Throughout the specication and claims the term glass is to be understood as including quartz or other amorphous or crystalline non-corrosive material. 1

The rotor is enclosed in a casing comprising a 5 cap I4 and a back I6, which are formed of glass and which conform fairly closelyto the rotor but do not touch the latter at any point during rotation, sinceto do so would soon destroy the Dump.

;0 In the present example, the hub I5 of the back I6 and the adjacent face ofthe bearing block I3 eachy has a conical recess therein that together form. a recession, in which packing I1. is placed 4toprevent theescape of the corrosive liquid being g5 pumped. The said cap and-back of the casing are clamped together, as'by bolts I8 that draw a metal ring I9 whichfbears on the periphery of the cap I4, anda similar ring that'bears on a ange 2| that is formed on or connected with 0 the bearing I3. The cap I4 has an inlet 22,

through which theliquid' to be delivered enters the pump. The rotor I0 has a depression 23 opposite entrance22, and from the said depression there radiate a series of gutters 24 which are 45 at an oblique angle to the axis of the rotor, and

which slant backward in the direction of the said entrance. 'I'he said gutters 24, in the pres-- ent example, extend about one-half of the radial 'dimension of the chamber within the cap. I4 and 50 then merge into gutters 25 which extendat an angle to the axis of rotation, but in the opposite direction from the gutters 24.

'I'he cap of the casing approximately nts the rotor, but suflicient clearance or space 28 is pro- 55 vided between the rotor and the cap so that they cannot by any possibility strike Ior rub each other. This avoidance of contactbetween the rotor and the cap or the back I8 of the pump permits each of said parts to be made. of glass, fused quartz, or other non-corrosive material. 5

The exit from the pump is an opening 21 in the back I6, which is located approximately at the sgme radialdistance as the exits of the gutters 5.

In the operation of the aforesaid example of l0,

my pump, the rotor being in motion, the liquid in the gutters 24 is thrown outward by centrifugal force. The said pressure upon the liquid packs the casing around the rotor, so that the sucking of air into or retention in the pump is prevented. 15

The water tries to 'go straight out,'perpendicularly to the axis of rotation; but the gutters are inclined diagonally across the path\which it would followand this builds upa pressure in the columns of water in the gutters 24. 'I'he said pres- 20 sure drives the columns of water in the said gutters 24 against the slanting inner 'surface of the cap I4, and causes them to rebound and enter the gutters 25 and the gutters 25 being in-l clined away from the axis in the direction of 25 flow of the water, conduct the water under pressure to and Vthrough the outlet 21. Thus, the continuous and accumulated pressure from the gut- 'ters 24 provides a continuous column of water through the exit 21. Stated otherwise, the iiud starting from the .point 23, flows outward through' -the gutters 24, which are formed in the outer face of the impeller, which is that of a reen- 'trant cone, the cross-sections of the said gutters preferably remaining the same throughout their length, thus controlling or 'synchronizing the speed and-'volume of travel in the said gutters.4 At the outer or delivery end of the gutters 24, the pathof the iluid changes andfollows the gutters 25, which have the slant of the exterior of 40 a cone and which conduct the fluid to the dedivery orifice 21, the gutters 25 beingpreferably of `the same cross-section throughout their length, so that the uid travel is still controlled. The aforesaid construction of the two sets of gutters, by controlling the ow of the uid, eliminates the necessity of a seal or-tightfitting connection, because, at the point 26, which is the dead area, an anti-friction uid seal for the impeller is formed 'and the uid is expelled 50 through the outlet or delivery pipe 21, which, being in line withthe exit of the gutters 25, the guia is freely forced through the said outlet. 'I'his feature eliminates the necessity of having a bleeder device or passage in said casing where the two halves of the casing I4 and I G-join. Owing to the fact that the internal area of casing I4 is continually increasing in the direction of flow of the fluid, and following the angles of the 5 impeller I0, any air or gas which might be drawn in through the inlet 22 is expelled from the fluid at the ends of the gutters 24, owing to the hugging effect of the heavier element in its passage through the said gutters. The gases at this point are expelled into the space 26 and are carried with the fluid through the gutters 25 and space 26 to the delivery outlet 21. This feature enables this pump to handle fluids and gases, either combined or intermittently, without becoming air or gas-locked. The space 26a between the casing I6 and the impeller III is the equalizing and high-pressure space of this pump. In this space, a thrust is built up against the back of the impeller I0 by the reaction occurring in the gutters 24, which thrust is compensated by the positive pressure in the spaceV 26a. Fluid, in its escape to packing I5, supplies or provides a. fluid bearing to compensate for thisy thrust. Owing to 'the hugging effect of the fluid as described in gutters 24 and 25, the space 26, surrounding thesiderable pressure and in great volume, capable of self-priming from dry from a substantial vertical depth of suction, and of a design the construction of which is such that considerable clearances in all directions, namely, space 26, 'can be permitted, indeed are necessary, between the impeller or rotor Iii and the casings I4 and I6. These clearances, combined with the facts (a) and (b) detailed below, enable this pump to be made wholly of glass, hard rubber, porcelain, stoneware, etc., as well as of acldfresistant metals and non-acid-resistant metals: (a) The impeller or rotor I0 runs entirely within a fluid seal or bearing formed by the fiuid in spaces 26 and 26a. It is thus balanced, compensated and largely carried which obviates the necessity for any bearingfwhatever other than packing I1, which itself may be one of the wellknown acid-resisting packings; and (b) the impeller or rotor I0 and the casings Il and I6 are of an extremely simple, though of an entirely novel, design whichrcan be pressed or moulded in glass or in any ofthe materials or metals enumerated above, inter alia. Nothing limits the size of a pump of this type except the ultimate centripetal strength of the particular material also, by engagement with the enlargement iiange Y 29 on the glass shaft, serves tomaintain the rotor in a position in which it does not touch either the cap or the back of the casing. vSince neither the shaft, thecap nor the back touch each other, they can be made of glass Swithout danger of breakage. Furthermore, the principle by which the liquid is packed into the spaces between the of which the impeller or rotor is made. Further-` said parts prevents 'the inefficiency which otherwise would be present, due to the sucking of air into the pump chamber.

The opening in the back I6, through which the shaft passes, is preferably made so that the said parts do not touch each other. The provision of the packing I1 between the conicalwall of the back I6 and the opposite conical depression in the bearing I3 prevents the liquid or air from passing through the opening in the back and escaping, thus again avoiding the necessity of two glass parts touching each other.

'Ihe principles of my pump can be applied in many different ways, and my invention is not to be 'limited to the specific form chosen for illustration. Moreover, metal parts coated with a non-corrosive enamel could be used in place of the glass or quartz elements used in the illustrative example.

That principle of my pump by which the gutters not only extend radially but up-hill, so to speak, with a component of motion lengthwise of the axis of the shaft, and especially when a component is used first' in the direction of the axis one way, and then with such a component in the opposite direction, tends tokeep the. liquid inthe gutters so as powerfully to propel the liquid toward and through the exit.

When the claims state that the gutters make an acute angle with the axis, the said angle is to be measured clockwise from the gutters to the axis in Fig. 1.

I claim:

1. In a pump for delivering corrosive liquids, the combination of a glass rotor having gutters extending radially outward from a central inlet and having a' component of motion lengthwise of f the vaxis of rotation, said lrotor also having gutters in its periphery, inclining from the discharge' ends of said first-mentioned gutters radially outward and at an angle to the shaft in the opposite direction from said first-*mentioned gutters. v

2. In a pump for delivering corrosive liquids, the combination of a rotor in the shape of a frustum of a cone rotatable about the axis of the frustum and having gutters lonigtudinally of its slant surface, the top of the frustum having a 'depressionin the form of an inverted conical -frustum, the slant surface bounding the depression havingradial gutters meeting the inlet ends of the first-named gutters, and a casing enclosing said rotor shaped approximately counterpart to but not touching said rotor, said casing having an inlet communicating with the axial central part of the rotor and having an outlet communicating with the radially outermost part of the rotor.

3. In a pump for delivering corrosive liquids, the ,combination of a rotor in the shape of a frustum of a cone rotatable about the axis of the frustum and having gutters longitudinally of its slant surface, the top of the frustum having a depressionv in the form of an inverted conical frustum, the slant surface bounding the depression having radial gutters meeting the inlet ends of the first-named gutters, said first-named gutters being more nearly parallel to the axis of rotation than the second-named gutters, and a casing enclosing said rotor having an inlet communicating with the axial central part ofthe rotor and having an outlet communicating with the radially outermost part of the rotor.

4. In a pump for delivering corrosive liquids, the combination of a glass rotor having a hollow therein shaped likean inverted conical frustum with radial gutters formed in its inner slant surface, said rotor also having a positive frustum of a cone extending outwardly from the outer edge A ofsaid hollow, said positive frustum having gutters in its slant surface communicating with the gutters in the inverted frustum, and a casing enl closing said rotor, said mst-mentioned gutters being more inclined to the axis of.rotation than said second mentioned gutters, all of said gutters being of uniform cross-section throughout, and said casing having an axial inlet and1 an outlet approximately opposite the delivery ends of said second-mentioned gutters.

the combination of a glass rotor-having gutters extending radially outward and having a component of motion lengthwise of the axis oi rotation, said rotor also havinggutters in it's periph- 20 ery incliningjfrom said mst-mentioned gutters 5. In a pump for delivering corrosive liquids;

radially outward and at an angle to the shaft in the opposite direction from said first-mentioned gutters, and a casing enclosing said rotor, said casing and rotor being substantially spaced apart, said casing having an inlet communicating with the axial central part of the rotor and having an.

of said hollow, a casing enclosing said rotor, said 

